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Monday, March 18, 2013

Let the Madness of Parity Begin!

The annual spring collegiate basketball tournament that has become a social
media sensation and American cultural institution is upon us again! The NCAA
Tourney commonly known as March Madness gets started Tuesday evening with
the official tip-off taking place on Thursday morning. With the parity college
basketball is experiencing there are at least ten teams with a shot a cutting down
the nets in Atlanta as favorites not to mention several Cinderella possibilities to
wear the glass slipper and stun the country! Forty-four different schools were
ranked this season which is just five off the record which was set back in the 2008-
09 campaign.
While Gonzaga finished the regular season on top of the Associated Press poll for
the first time in school history and as expected grabbed a number one seed in the
West Region, the school to beat is Louisville. Rick Pitino’s crew, the top seed in
the Mid-West Region showed just how potent and powerful they can be after
outscoring Syracuse by 30 points in the second half of the Big East championship
game turning a 13 point deficit into a 17 point victory. Indiana, who spent ten
weeks at number one this past season, grabbed the top seed in the East Region with
Kansas gaining top billing in the South. As always there are some compelling first
round match-ups between eighth and ninth seeds. In Lexington, Kentucky
Colorado State’s deliberate style of patient basketball, will be put to the test
against a Missouri squad that will try to run you out of the gym along with firing
three pointers as fast as the scoreboard can change digits! In the East Region, N.C.
State who has superior talent is seeded 8th only because the Wolfpack don’t show
up unless motivated. They’ll face a Temple squad that has been up and down all
season. Expect C.J. Leslie, Richard Howell and Lorenzo Brown to all be ready to
go and make a Cinderella run with talent that is as good as most in the entire
tournament. Another eight versus nine game that intrigues is North Carolina
against Villanova. The Tar Heels may be young but can shoot the deep ball with
the best of them. P.J. Hairston and Reggie Bullock are long distance assassins.
The Wildcats will counter with trying to pound the rock inside to Jay Vaughn
disaster on a neutral court. They take on a red-hot Mississippi squad coming off
an upset of Florida in the SEC Championship game. Rebels guard Marshall
Henderson is capable of having one of those games carrying the underdog to glory.
The other twelve versus five game that sticks out is Arkansas against VCU in
Auburn Hills. Some experts believe Shaka Smart’s club can make another run to
the final four like in 2011 when they upset top-seeded Kansas in the Southwest
region. We say the Rams should be on upset alert in round one! While Arkansas
is inconstant at times, the Hogs play the same high-paced tempo game as VCU and
when hot can thump anyone as then number one Florida found out in Fayetteville
earlier this season.
Speaking of the final four which is what this event is all about, who might get
there can be anybody’s guess? The favorites are Louisville and Duke out of the
Midwest, Gonzaga and Ohio State from the West, Indiana and Miami from the
East along with Kansas and Georgetown in the South. Sleeper picks starting in the
Midwest Oklahoma State (young but very talented), Michigan State and St. Louis
(defense wins games and both this teams can lock you down!). From the West you
have to be aware of New Mexico. Steve Alford’s team won the Mountain West
Tourney in Vegas against UNLV which says plenty not to mention they are big,
have solid guard play and a star player in Kendall Williams who averages 13.5
points a game and can take over at any time. N.C. State in the East could be the
surprise team. They have enough talent to take down Indiana in Dayton in the
second round. Motivation is all the Wolfpack need and that match-up will bring
exactly that! With the A-T-L the final destination, here are our picks for glory.
Louisville from the Midwest, two-seed Ohio State from the West, Miami surprises
with a ride from Austin all the way to Georgia and Georgetown stops Kansas to
win the South. In the semis, Louisville takes down the Buckeyes and Miami’s
size proves to be too much for the Hoyas. So we get two teams that love to run
and shoot the three-ball, in the Cardinals and Hurricanes. But the difference in
the championship game is size and Miami has it. Shane Larkin can handle the
Louisville pressure, while Durand Scott and Larkin match Peyton Silva, Russ
Smith and Luke Hancock three ball for three ball! The Hurricanes however go to
the next level with points in the paint. Kenny Kadji, Reggie Johnson and Julian
Gamble prove to be too big inside and Miami wins their first national title in a high
scoring 82-78 shootout!

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